GT: Canadian Federal Election 2019

[peter12]

There are constitutional measures in place for Alberta and Saskatchewan to start flexing some muscle. For one, Alberta could decide to collect its own tax revenue, rather then leaving it to Revenue Canada.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by Red

Didn't seem like an issue during the decade of Harper's government.

But did Harper make it one of his campaign promises?

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Can there be some hope for a renewed look at electoral reform and a shift to proportional representation at this point?

Maybe it's just wishful thinking. But our current system does not work for Canada today.

As others have mentioned, the Bloc having such a disproportionate number of seats compared to the Greens and NDP is a joke.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

The CPC party have basically embodied the Principal Skinner meme over the last four years.

CPC losing in 2015: Are we out of touch?
CPC preparing for 2019: No, it's Canadians who are wrong!

Such an easy opportunity to lead this country, totally bungled. They know prairie support is basically locked in but couldn't figure out how to contruct policies that actually appeal to the majority without alienating them with others (hint: it's a mix of fiscally conservative and socially progressive policies) and pick a leader that wasn't a total milk-guzzling con-bot that constantly looks like they're practicing a human smile.

The social policies don't even have to be overly progressive! Even a "we're happy with where Canada is today and look forward to continuing our progress" would've been 1000x better than "the law is the law I guess, we don't agree with them but we won't change them." Like, how hard is it to even pretend you're happy to support socially things most Canadians support, instead of sounding like Dad is making you?

Albertans voted in a guy who lived in mom's basement because he was Conservative. We've got your back no matter what. You can make a platform that supports our natural resource sector without alienating huge chunks of Canada with other weirdo policies. Just figure it out.

The reality is that they wouldn't govern with that kind of appeal anyway because the socially regressive contingent would abandon the party and you'd be back to the 90s with 2 separate, viable 'conservative' parties.

If national and provincial politics of the last 30 years has taught us anything it's that Canadians will not support economic conservatism or social conservatism with any kind of majority, but if given the choice between the two, will absolutely, overwhelmingly, abandon social conservatism. For either to get representation, they have to amalgamate. Wild Rose and PC, Reform/Alliance.

With climate change an increasingly important social issue, that is going to continue to plague any party that doesn't have a platform to actively address it.

Andrew Scheer didn't go to a pride parade because he's personally offended by the gays,. He didn't go to a pride parade because their own internal polling shows it would be disastrous for turnout momentum and would probably split 50-60 percent of the vote from the party.

Then you'd be back to the bad old days when the country would vote a liberal majority with Joe Clark PCs as their second choice and the lowly prairie bigot party battling it out with union socialists and the bloc.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by peter12

There are constitutional measures in place for Alberta and Saskatchewan to start flexing some muscle. For one, Alberta could decide to collect its own tax revenue, rather then leaving it to Revenue Canada.

Does this change anything? Its not like the equalization payments are coming from the provincial tax.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Red

Didn't seem like an issue during the decade of Harper's government.

I think Conservatives need to start recognizing that the decade of Harper represented an aberration and not the norm.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

Perhaps, the only way to counterbalance Eastern dominance on Canadian politics is through amalgamation of provinces. Amalgamate with Saskatchewan, NWT and Yukon. Isolate BC from access to the rest of Canada. Then either get a fair treatment or separate.

Time to remake Rupert's Land. We can fly this as our flag.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by OldDutch

I said it last night, I voted Conservative for the first time. I wanted a conservative government to protect the pipeline.

While not the best outcome I wanted to see, the only people who can kill the pipeline are the liberals.

Basically where we were 2 days a ago.

NDP and Green are a non factor.

I am taking glass half full look today.

Yup, a minority government with a strong opposition is not a bad thing to have.

You just know they are going to play games with it though. Oppositions sometimes just oppose for the sake of opposing. We will see how the Conservative play on this.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Then you'd be back to the bad old days when the country would vote a liberal majority with Joe Clark PCs as their second choice and the lowly prairie bigot party battling it out with union socialists and the bloc.

I don't know that I'd necessarily agree with that. I think Canada as a whole is much more socially progressive than it used to be. You'd probably have your Reform types split off and it might affect votes in rural Alberta and Saskatchewan, but a PC party without the Reform baggage would be a strong competitor in most of the urban centres.

EDIT: Keep in mind that many of those Reformers are going to be dead in the next 10-20 years anyways.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

The CPC party have basically embodied the Principal Skinner meme over the last four years.

CPC losing in 2015: Are we out of touch?
CPC preparing for 2019: No, it's Canadians who are wrong!

Such an easy opportunity to lead this country, totally bungled. They know prairie support is basically locked in but couldn't figure out how to contruct policies that actually appeal to the majority without alienating them with others (hint: it's a mix of fiscally conservative and socially progressive policies) and pick a leader that wasn't a total milk-guzzling con-bot that constantly looks like they're practicing a human smile.

The social policies don't even have to be overly progressive! Even a "we're happy with where Canada is today and look forward to continuing our progress" would've been 1000x better than "the law is the law I guess, we don't agree with them but we won't change them." Like, how hard is it to even pretend you're happy to support socially things most Canadians support, instead of sounding like Dad is making you?

Albertans voted in a guy who lived in mom's basement because he was Conservative. We've got your back no matter what. You can make a platform that supports our natural resource sector without alienating huge chunks of Canada with other weirdo policies. Just figure it out.

This probably wins them a majority.

[indes]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

The reality is that they wouldn't govern with that kind of appeal anyway because the socially regressive contingent would abandon the party and you'd be back to the 90s with 2 separate, viable 'conservative' parties.



If national and provincial politics of the last 30 years has taught us anything it's that Canadians will not support economic conservatism or social conservatism with any kind of majority, but if given the choice between the two, will absolutely, overwhelmingly, abandon social conservatism. For either to get representation, they have to amalgamate. Wild Rose and PC, Reform/Alliance.



With climate change an increasingly important social issue, that is going to continue to plague any party that doesn't have a platform to actively address it.



Andrew Scheer didn't go to a pride parade because he's personally offended by the gays,. He didn't go to a pride parade because their own internal polling shows it would be disastrous for turnout momentum and would probably split 50-60 percent of the vote from the party.



Then you'd be back to the bad old days when the country would vote a liberal majority with Joe Clark PCs as their second choice and the lowly prairie bigot party battling it out with union socialists and the bloc.

This is what baffles me, why cater to the far right? Who the hell else are they going to vote for?

[Red]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I think Conservatives need to start recognizing that the decade of Harper represented an aberration and not the norm.

Sure but to the point. Conservatives have won their share of elections. Ontario has voted Conservatives in. They even voted a guy like Doug Ford who is scary to the federal Conservatives.
Blaming the system gives the Conservatives a pass for poor performance. Reading this thread it's clear that the Conservative party should push to be more socially progressive. Instead they ran with a bigot as a leader.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Red

Sure but to the point. Conservatives have won their share of elections. Ontario has voted Conservatives in. They even voted a guy like Doug Ford who is scary to the federal Conservatives.
Blaming the system gives the Conservatives a pass for poor performance. Reading this thread it's clear that the Conservative party should push to be more socially progressive. Instead they ran with a bigot as a leader.

That they even ran a bigot is a symptom of FPTP, IMO.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by indes

This is what baffles me, why cater to the far right? Who the hell else are they going to vote for?

Given the news of the garbage attacks, I guess the PPC. Not a great strategy.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I think Conservatives need to start recognizing that the decade of Harper represented an aberration and not the norm.

Haha, this is such weak reasoning. No, the decade of Harper was the result of careful and strategic measures to destroy the Bloc, empower the NDP at the expense of the LPC, and expand into QC and ON.

[Redliner]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Time to remake Rupert's Land. We can fly this as our flag.

Or this one.

[rubecube]

Lisa Raitt losing her seat should be perhaps the biggest wake up call for Conservatives. Canada lost a very good MP because of who the CPC put forward as their leader.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by peter12

Haha, this is such weak reasoning. No, the decade of Harper was the result of careful and strategic measures to destroy the Bloc, empower the NDP at the expense of the LPC, and expand into QC and ON.

And yet here we are in 2019 and the results of all of those measures look like they were rather temporary, no?

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Red

Sure but to the point. Conservatives have won their share of elections. Ontario has voted Conservatives in. They even voted a guy like Doug Ford who is scary to the federal Conservatives.
Blaming the system gives the Conservatives a pass for poor performance. Reading this thread it's clear that the Conservative party should push to be more socially progressive. Instead they ran with a bigot as a leader.

I don't think Doug Ford scares the federal Conservatives. If he was more popular they would have parading him around like Jason Kenney.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by rubecube

And yet here we are in 2019 and the results of all of those measures look like they were rather temporary, no?

Looks like many things in politics are temporary, no?